| Share page | Visit Us On FB |
|
Introduction |
5 |
||
|
|
|||
|
the cheap land of the Michigan frontier lure settlers, but there were other enticements that are suggested in the following crude song, which we found in the Gernsey Manuscript:
Come all ye Yankee farmer boys who would like to change your lot
And spunk enough to travel beyond your native spot
And leave behind the village where pa and ma doth stay,
Come, go with me and settle in Michigania
For there's your Penobscot way down in parts of Maine
Where timber grows in plenty but not a bit of grain,
And there is your Quaddy and your Piscataqua,
But these can't hold a candle to Michigania
And there's the state of Vermont, but what a place is that?
To be sure the girls are pretty and the cattle very fat,
But who among her mountains and clouds of snow would stay
While he can buy a section in Michigania?
And there is Massachusetts, once good enough, be sure,
But now she is always lying in taxation and manure.
She'll cause a peck of trouble but deal a peck will pay,
While all is scripture measure in Michigania
And there's the land of Blue Laws where deacons cut their hair For fear their locks and tenants [tenets?] will not exactly square, Where beer that works on Sunday a penalty must pay, While all is free and easy in Michigania. And there's the state of New York, the people's very rich, Among diemselves and others have dug a mighty ditch Which renders it more easy for us to find the way And sail upon the waters of Michigania.
What country ever grew up so great in little time,
Just popping from a nursery right into life its prime?
When Uncle Sam did wean her, 'twas but the other day,
And now she's quite a lady, this Michigania.
And if you want to go to a place called Washtenaw,
You'll first upon the Huron, such land you never saw,
Where ship come to Ann Arbor right through a pleasant bay
And touch at Ypsilanti m Michigania.
And if you want to go a little farther back,
You'll find the shire of Oakland, the town of Pontiac,
Which springing up so sudden scared the wolves and bears away
That used to roam about there in Michigania.
And if you want to go where Rochester is there,
And farther still Mt. Clemens looks out upon St. Clair,
Besides some other places within McCombia
That promise population to Michigania. |
|||
|
|
|||
|
And if you want to travel a little farther on,
I guess you'll touch St. Joseph where everybody's gone, |
|||